Lab meets field: Accelerated selection and field monitoring concur that non-target-site-based resistance evolves first in the dicotyledonous, allergenic weed Ambrosia artemisiifolia

• Published in: Plant science (Limerick) Vol. 317; p. 111202
• Main Authors: Meyer, Lucie, Pernin, Fanny, Michel, Séverine, Bailly, Géraldine, Chauvel, Bruno, Le Corre, Valérie, Délye, Christophe
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ireland Elsevier B.V 01.04.2022; Elsevier
• Subjects: Accelerated selection; Acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS); Acetolactate Synthase - antagonists & inhibitors; Acetolatate-synthase (ALS); Allergens; Ambrosia - genetics; Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (Common ragweed); Evolution, Molecular; Herbicide; Herbicide Resistance - genetics; Herbicides - pharmacology; Life Sciences; Plant Weeds - genetics; Resistance; Acetohydroxyacid synthase (AHAS); Resistance; Acetolatate-synthase (ALS); Ambrosia artemisiifolia L. (Common ragweed); Herbicide; Accelerated selection
• ISSN: 0168-9452; 1873-2259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.plantsci.2022.111202

•Accelerated selection for herbicide resistance was evaluated in Ambrosia artemisiifolia.•Non-target-site-based resistance (NTSR) to imazamox and/or tribenuron was obtained.•NTSR was also by far the resistance type most frequently detected in French fields.•Accelerated selection allows anticipating resistance evolution in a weed.•NTSR in broadleaf weeds should become a research priority. Assessing weed capacity to evolve herbicide resistance before resistance occurs in the field is of major interest for chemical weed control. We used herbicide selection followed by controlled crosses to provoke accelerated evolution of resistance to imazamox (imidazolinones) and tribenuron (sulfonyurea), two acetolactate-synthase (ALS) inhibitors targeting Ambrosia artemisiifolia. In natural populations with no herbicide application records, some plants were initially resistant to metsulfuron (sulfonylurea), a cereal herbicide. Non-target-site-based resistance (NTSR) to metsulfuron was substantially increased from these plants within two generations. NTSR to imazamox and/or tribenuron emerged in metsulfuron-selected G1 progenies and was strongly reinforced in G2 progenies selected by imazamox or tribenuron. NTSR to the herbicides assayed was endowed by partly overlapping and partly specific pathways. Herbicide sensitivity bioassays conducted over 62 ALS-inhibitor-sprayed fields identified emerging resistance to imazamox and/or tribenuron in 14 A. artemisiifolia populations. Only NTSR was detected in 13 of these populations. In the last population, NTSR was present together with a mutant, herbicide-resistant ALS allele bearing an Ala-205-Thr substitution. NTSR was thus by far the predominant type of resistance to ALS inhibitors in France. This confirmed accelerated selection results and demonstrated the relevance of this approach to anticipate resistance evolution in a dicotyledonous weed.